I recently held a dinner party. Well, dinner party isn’t quite what it was. It was an appetizer party. All the food was small, most of it you could eat with your fingers, and none of it I had ever made before.

E. thought I was crazy. I had planned out a menu weeks in advance, and got all of the shopping done on Friday night before heading into the kitchen for an all day cook fest of Saturday. All was going great until about 3:00pm. There I was standing in my kitchen, about 5 of the 10 appetizers at various stages of done, still in my pajamas freaking out about getting everything on the table in time.

Luckily, these little pillows of heaven take almost no time to throw together. And, I believe that they might have actually been the most popular thing that I made that night. I think that I even saw my friend, A. who happens to be a vegetarian, sneak a little bit of a bite.

They take about 30 minutes to assemble in total, and about another 20 in the oven. These also travel well, and are easy to reheat. And, if by chance you happen to have some left over, they are also good cold.

Bacon Wrapped Dates Stuffed with Goat Cheese

Ingredients

Goat cheese, plain, 4 ounces

30 pitted dates

15 strips of bacon, cut in half

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Place the goat cheese in a bowl and whip it until its spreadable. If you need, place it in the microwave for 15 seconds to make this easier.

Cut a lengthwise slit in the date, careful not to cut it in half. Stuff each tade with about 1/2 a teaspoon of goat cheese, and pinch closed.

Take the bacon, and cut it in half so that there is half a slice of bacon for each stuffed date. Wrap each date securely in a piece of bacon and arrange the dates, seam side down, on a baking sheet.

Bake the stuffed dates for about 20 minutes, or until the bacon is browned and crisp; turn each date half way through.